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The prevailing sentiment is that of "Good Riddance, 2009". The last decade really brought home that the only constant is change. In the context of The Dranoff, the zeroes between the 2 and the 9 appear as spaces filled with incredible work, important new connections, amazing goodwill, accomplishments and determination. And change.
We implemented many of the recommendations of the Strategic Planning Project we had embarked on late in 2008, such as restructuring the board, adding new board members from the business community, and developing relationships with other cultural arts organization; we created a new membership program, Dranoff 100; we secured grants at a time of deep funding cuts.
We focused on building existing relationships and reaching outside the familar.
After successful performances with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra in Martin and St. Lucie counties we brought the orchestra to the University of Miami Gusmann Hall for a wonderful presentation of the Carnival of the Animals, narrated by Martin Bookspan.
Piano Slam, a program involving Dade County Public schools students, poets, musicians, spoken word artists and DJ, reached almost 10,000 school children and culminated in an event featuring local and international artists at the Adrienne Arsht Center. PianoSlam will become part of the Center's annual programming.
We held a number of Salon concerts in private homes, with corporations, and together with the Bass Museum in Miami Beach.
These accomplishments are paving the way for the 12th Dranoff International Two Piano Competition in 2011. Our Executive Director, Carlene Sawyer, will keep you informed in the section About the Competition. Please read on, and join us.
Happy New Year
Gabriele Fiorentino
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CONTENT
THE COMPETITION - Work on the 12th International Two Piano Competition begins....read more
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WHAT IS GOING ON IN MIAMI - Miami in January is plain and simply beautiful...plus events of some of the groups and organizations we have a close relationship with....read more
TWO PIANO MUSIC WORLDWIDE - This offers a list of performances by Dranoff laureates, solo and duo.....read more
REPERTOIRE FOR TWO PIANOS -Members of the Artistic Advisory Board of The Dranoff share their thoughts on favorite selections, or introduce new pieces, or share discoveries...read more
NEWS - About "our" duos, of course...read more
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 THE COMPETITION
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by Carlene Sawyer
Executive Director
The 12th Dranoff International Two Piano
Competition cycle begins this month and culminates in the final rounds in
Miami, on May 20th, 2011. The raison
d'etre is to give young, professional duo pianists a platform to showcase their
artistic virtuosity and announce their talent and appeal to the
international performance world.
The upcoming Competition will expand its
importance by being the anchor for an annual Competition Festival with two-piano music as its base and
inspiration. The festival's home is the Adrienne Arsht Center for
Performing Arts, Miami's new state of the art performance venue. The week will
feature celebrity performances by jury members, showcase special guests, and
premiere an original dance program inspired by the two-piano repertoire. Part of the offerings is also the Arsht
Center's presentation of Dranoff's
youth education and performance project PIANO SLAM, where students and regional and international artists perform
original poetry inspired by Dranoff commissioned works.
What are the mechanics?
Martin
Bookspan, chair of the Dranoff
Foundation's Artistic Advisory Board, will direct the Competition
Committee, along with the Competition Artistic Directors Piano Duo Aglika
Genova and Liuben Dimitrov. The Competition Committee's role is to select a
jury made up of artists and scholars; to lay the foundation of the rules and
requirements for the young competing artist in accordance with the World
Federation of International Music Competitions; to adjudicate the Competition. It
also chooses a prestigious composer for a new commissioned work that
is premiered as part of the competition and will enter the two-piano
repertoire.
The Foundation works with over 350 universities and
conservatories world-wide to engage artists from dozen of countries. The first step for contestants on their
way to Miami is to submit an unedited video of a 45 minute two piano
recital. These entries are
reviewed by the Competition Committee; it chooses entrants for the live
auditions in regional rounds.
These are held in the US in
Chicago, Illinois, and in Europe in Hannover, Germany. It is from this pool that
the Committee chooses the 10 artist duos that qualify for semi-finals and
finals during the week of May 14 to May 20, 2011.
There are countless details to this endeavor. We are adding many other layers to this event to give music lovers
and music professionals a reason
to come to Miami and discover the high level of music performances Miami has to
offer.
The board and I look forward to your interest in the next Dranoff Competition, its young artists, new music and fantastic
performances and welcome your support.
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WHAT IS GOING ON IN MIAMI
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Miami in January is plain and simply beautiful. It feels still, a collective deep breath after the Holiday pressure; the light makes everything sparkle, the sounds are crisp; the sun kisses, but does not burn, and the winds of March have not yet come to dry up everything.
The Dranoff presents a wonderful concert in February, featuring the Trivella Duo from Italy, and the Bergonzi Quartet, with an all Italian program.
You may also consider becoming a Dranoff100 member to have access to private Salons concerts. Dranoff 100
The Season is in full swing; here we list events offered by a group of organizations and presenters we at The Dranoff have a shared history with. (Image: Fairchild Botanical Gardens, Miami)
Bass Museum
10/3/09 - 2/21/10 - Dzine.
10/3/09 - 1/10/10 - Kent Henricksen: Wayward We Hunt.
12/3/09 - 3/14/10 - Where Do We Go From Here? La Coleccion Jumex
2121 Park Avenue, Miami Beach. Bass Museum
Alejandra Von Hartz Gallery
11/14/09 - 2/6/10 Structure: The Argentine Legacy. Artists: Fabián Burgos, Martín Di Paola, Marcolina Dipierro, Verónica Di Toro, Lucio Dorr, Silvia Gurfein, Silvana Lacarra, Adriana Minoliti, Karina Peisajovich, Pablo Siquier, Andrés Sobrino.
2630 NW 2ND. Avenue, info@alejandravonhartz.net
JANUARY
Friends of Chamber Music
1/5 James Ehnes, Andres Diaz, Valentina Lisitsa (Winner 1991 Dranoff International Two Piano Competition)
1/20 Takesha Kizart (Soprano), Ken Noda (Piano) 8pm. University of Miami Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables. Friends of Chamber Music
FEBRUARY
2/11 The Dranoff - An Italian Evening, Dranoff Competition Winners Piano Duo Trivella &
The Bergonzi Quartet with a special transcription for 2 pianos of music by Sgambati, University of Miami
Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables.
2/20 - 28 - The Chopin Foundation Eighth National Chopin Piano Competition. Miami Dade County Auditorium. Chopin Foundation
2/17 Friends of Chamber Music - The Paris Trio & Alexander Fiterstein (Clarinet). 8pm. University of Miami Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables.
2/27 - 3/7 Miami Bach Society- Tropical Baroque Music Festival XI. Miami Bach Society
MARCH
3/3 Friends of Chamber Music - The Artemis Quartet. University of Miami Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables. Friends of Chamber Music
3/23 Friends of Chamber Music - Nareh Arghamanyan, Piano. University of Miami Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables.Friends of Chamber Music
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TWO PIANO MUSIC WORLD WIDE
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It is our mission to broaden interest in this ensemble music form, therefore we include in this calendar not only to Dranoff artists. Of course, we focus on the careers of Dranoff winners, even if they perform as soloists. (Image of the Royal Academy in Aarhus, Denmark) 2010United States1/3 - Kravitz Center, Palm Beach. Charles Wadsworth and Friends. www.kravis.org 1/13 Le Poisson Rouge, New York City. 9:30pm. Celebrating George Crumb. Duo Stephanie & Saar. Le Poisson Rouge. 2/21 - Woodlands Auditorium, Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. Richard & John Contiguglia. Duo Contiguglia (Mssrs. Contiguglia are on the Dranoff Artistic Advisory Board, and previous jury members)2/23 - Broward Performing Arts Center, Ft. Lauderdale. 8:15. Velia Yedra, piano & Bogdan Chruszgz, 30th Duo Anniversary Recital. Broward Center (Ms. Yedra is on the Dranoff Artistic Advisory Board)3/28 - Maryville College. Maryville, Tennessee. Richard & John Contiguglia. Canada Grand Junction Theatre, Calgary: 1/ 7th, 7:30pm 1/ 8th, 7pm and 9:30pm 1/8th, 9.30pm 1/9th, 2pm and 8pm 1/ 10th, 2pm and 6pm All performances on four grand pianos by Elizabeth Bergmann, Marcel Bergmann, Jeroen van Veen and the 2009 Honens Piano Competition winner, Evgeny Starodubtsev. Before the intermission, they perform Canto Ostinato by Simeon ten Holt. Tubular Bells will be performed with the Alberta Ballet. Alberta BalletRussia1/ St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Big Hall, Maestro Leif Segerstam. Duo Maxim Mogilevsky and Svetlana Smolina. 1/ Nizhny Novgorod Philharmonic, Maestro Alexander Skulsky. Duo Maxim Mogilevsly and Svetlana Smolina. Israel1/ Red Sea Festival, Eilat. Mariinsky Orchestra, Maestro Valery Gergiev. Duo Maxim Mogilevsky and Svetlana Smolina. Germany1/2 Barockkonzertsaal, Rostock. 7pm. Bach, Mozart. Olha Chipak & Oleksiy Kushnir. 2/4 & 6, Pianosalon, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. Mozart, Brahms, Hindemith, Stravinsky, Mendelssohn, Schultz, Rachmaninoff. Olha Chipak & Oleksiy Kushnir. Denmark1/18 Royal Academy of Music, Aarhus. Olha Chipak & Oleksiy Kushnir. Italy2/25 Sala Verdi del Conservatorio, Milan. Duo De Stefano. www.seratemusicali.it. |
REPERTOIRE FOR TWO PIANOS
by Dr. Volker Anding
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Four
keyboards but just two instruments - this is not your regular piano duo but
rather a duo for two harpsichords. Laura and Nives Dearmas, sisters of Italian and Uruguayan descent
from Montevideo/Uruguay, have dedicated their careers to the
musical spectrum that evolved in Germany during the second half of the 18th
century, following an era of splendor during the late baroque period (Johann
Ludwig Krebs, Christoph Schaffrath, Johann Sebastian Bach). Early in their studies of Vivaldi, Scarlatti and Bach, Laura and Nives realized that baroque composers aimed to imitate human emotions like happiness,
sadness, love and hate by means of specific harmonic structures, rhythms,
intervals and tonality. This style of "affections" captivated the
sisters and led them to play XVII and XVIII century keyboard music on its
original instrument, the harpsichord. It requires from its player a special
articulation in order to create the emotional atmosphere which can more easily
be achieved on the piano with its larger variety of sounds.
Society in the Baroque period was geared to
teach and transmit arts and crafts within the family structure. Having experienced
a similar musical education within their own family, Laura and Nives have a
common objective: to share and spread the wide range of emotions of baroque music.
At the same time, they aim to present the harpsichord as an instrument of the
modern age: they include in their repertoire a selection of contemporary Latin
American composers, e.g. the Double Concerto for Guitar, Harpsichord and
Chamber Orchestra by Guido Santorsola. Laura and
Nives Dearmas began as pianists at the University of Montevideo School of Music
and started studying the harpsichord in 1987 and 1995 respectively. They have
performed as a Duo in Latin America, the United States and Europe. Dearmas website Dr. Anding holds a doctorate of constitutional law. His career as a Diplomat for the Federal Republic of Germany has taken him to posts in Europe, Africa, the United States and South America. He was the German Consul General in Miami, and then, before retirement, the Ambassador of Germany in Uruguay. Now, he is Chairman of the Miami Bach Society, a member of the Dranoff Artistic Advisory Board, and member on other boards. He is also a passionate cellist.
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NEWS
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Duo I'M - Irina Silivanova and Maxim Puryshinksi have just issued a new CD with the music by Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Bizet. Duo I'M website . Jeroen and Sandra Van Veen - a recording on Brilliant Classics CD, Complete Works for piano four hands, Erik Satie. Classics Today. Valentin Humburger - part of the German Duo Richard & Valentin Humburger- just accepted a teaching position at the Musikhochschule Mannheim in Germany. Musikhochschule MannheimDr. Valentin Bogdan, who manages the Conservatory outreach at the Dranoff Foundation, was invited to present the Foundation's most successful outreach activities at the College Music Society Southern Chapter Regional Conference at Loyola University of New Orleans at the beginning of February. College Music Society . |
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NEW MUSIC FOR TWO PIANOS
Commissioned by the Dranoff Foundation
Works by Bolcom, Corigliano, Could, Rorem, Schoenfield
Performed by winners of the Dranoff International Two Piano Competition
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About The Dranoff
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The Dranoff was founded in 1987 with the mission to advance two piano music and its artists. Since then, we have contributed 11 new compositions to the literature, and have been a career stepping stone for dozens of piano duos worldwide.
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